Your Access. Unleashed.of all payrolls submitted over the last 90 days. Using the “Actions” drop-down menu at the far right of each payroll, you can edit, model or delete existing

Retirement Strategies

Your Access. Unleashed.

A sponsor’s guide to Plan Access

A Website Guide for Plan Sponsors

FOR PLAN SPONSOR USE ONLY.

Contents 1 | Managing your plan

with Plan Access 2 | Take it from the top 3 | Plan Administration 6 | Reporting 8 | Message Center 9 | Plan Access FAQs 11 | Quick Reference Guide


1

Administering your plan just got easierMassMutual understands that plan administration is a

shared responsibility between plan sponsors and providers.

As investment boards and committees take a more active

role in plan management, plan sponsors need readily

accessible information and flexible plan access.

To provide this critical access-on-demand, MassMutual

is pleased to offer our clients Plan Access – a Web-based

plan management tool designed to provide you with all

the information, tools, and processing features needed to

administer your plan.

This guide will walk you through each of the main sections

and what they have to offer, how to use the tools, and how

Plan Access can streamline your ongoing plan management.

Getting to Plan AccessTo connect to Plan Access, start with the public page for

retirement plan sponsors: massmutual.com/planaccess.

You will need to enter your unique login ID and password to

get into Plan Access. Click the Continue button, and you’re

on your way. If you don’t remember your login information,

or if one has not been assigned to you, please contact your

MassMutual representative at 1-800-637-6444.

For easy access, you may wish to bookmark the Plan

Access login page.

Managing your plan with Plan Access


2

Once you log in to Plan Access, you’ll notice two menus on

the home page: the main menu at the top of the page, and a

sub-menu running below your plan name. The main menu

contains links to the three main sections of Plan Access. The

sub-menu below your plan name shows the different pages

available in each section. If you select the link for a different

section of the site from the main menu, the sub-menu will

change accordingly to show you all of your options.

The three main sections of Plan Access are:

1 | Plan Administration• View plan-level financial data, general plan

information and submit payroll contributions

• Add, update, and review employee information,

including participant address updates and

investment elections

2 | Reporting• View and print standard reports, plan summary

reports, and plan confirmation statements

• Run custom queries at the plan level or participant

level to get the data you need

3 | Message Center• Communicate directly with your employees

online by posting messages to the participant

website, Retirement Access

• Create unique content and target it specifically

to those employees you want

Take it from the top


3

Summary: Your window into the planThe Plan Administration section of the site is the main

hub for all your plan information and transactions. When

you first log in to Plan Access, you will arrive at the

Summary page of the Plan Administration section. At the

top of the Summary page, any plan alerts and news items

for you to review will be highlighted. We encourage you

to regularly visit the full list of news items found on the

Plan Tools page as well.

Also featured on the Summary page is your plan

dashboard. Here you’ll find a quick snapshot overview

of your total plan assets, YTD contributions, and total

number of accounts, including a dynamic pie chart view

of plan assets broken down by either asset class or by

investment option.

To the right of your plan dashboard is a list of quick links

taking you to some of the most important sections of Plan

Access, including payroll processing, reporting, participant

information and more.

Payroll: Sending contributions to the planOf special note for day-to-day plan management are the

payroll processing features located on the Payroll page of

the Plan Administration section. These features allow you to

submit your plan contributions electronically over the Web –

saving you time and reducing the potential for errors. Our

robust payroll processing capabilities allow you to add new

payrolls manually or through file import, model an existing

file, and edit or delete files that have not yet been submitted.

Our latest technology includes error checking that will alert

you to any issues with your file and allow you to correct

errors along the way.

When you first open the Payroll page, you will see a list

of all payrolls submitted over the last 90 days. Using the

“Actions” drop-down menu at the far right of each payroll,

you can edit, model or delete existing payrolls.

To add a new payroll, simply click the yellow button at

the top of the list and select whether you will be importing

a payroll file or adding a payroll manually. For step-by-step

instructions on using the payroll features, be sure to view

our payroll processing guides, available at the top of

the page.

Participants: Your day-to-day hubThe Participants page is your one-stop shop for participant

information and transactions. From this page you can easily

search for a list of all employees or drill down to a more

defined list using the Filter tool. The search results appear

in a list format that provides you with a quick snapshot of

the participant, status and balance.

Plan Administration


4

After running your participant search, you can view more

detailed employee data by using the drop-down options next

to each participant name. Here you can find:

• View as Participant to see the exact screens

your participants see on their own website,

Retirement Access

• Participant Information such as census data,

investment elections and contribution percentages

• Loan & Withdrawal options, with the ability

to freeze loans as well as view and print loan

amortization schedules

• Account Activity including transaction history

• Current and Historical Statements with the ability

to order statements for custom date ranges

To efficiently manage your plan, you can also add new

employee information, manage existing employee census

data, and update investment elections. Step-by-step

instructions for adding an employee to the system are

available online.

Loans and WithdrawalsThe next two pages of Plan Administration include all the

information about money taken out of the plan.

If your plan offers loans, you will see a Loan page that lists

all participants with active loans in the plan. See details of

each loan, print amortization schedules, calculate a loan

payoff and freeze loans, or use the Model a Loan button to

check available amounts and calculate payment options.

The Withdrawals tab provides a history of withdrawals from

your plan, and allows you to run distribution reports for

any given time period. Additionally, a second Withdrawal

Requests section will appear if your plan offers automated

distributions. This optional service allows for paperless

initiation of a withdrawal via the participant website. Users

of this service can view and (if applicable) approve any

outstanding withdrawal requests from the Withdrawal

Requests page.

Financials and Plan Information The Financials page offers important plan-level information

that provides an overall picture of your plan. Here you

will find subsections that offer an overview of your plan

assets, including total balance and easy-to-read graphical

summaries by either asset class or contribution type; a

summary of year-to-date contributions; and balances in

your plan holding accounts, including plan forfeitures.

For more detailed investment data, move over to the

Plan Information page, which contains information on

your plan’s investment options, including performance

information available in a print-friendly table and clickable

links to each investment option’s fact sheet and prospectus.

Plan Administration (continued)


Managing employee information

· Add new employees by clicking the yellow button on the main Participant page

· Update existing employee info by selecting Participant Information in the drop-down menu next to their name

· Change investment elections through the Change Investments option in the drop-down menu by the participant’s name

5

Other plan-level information included on the Plan

Information page are a list of contacts – including your

MassMutual account manager – and a library of your

important plan documents, including your Plan Service

Review, fee disclosure information, and more.

Compliance and Plan Tools: Helping you manage your planThe last two pages of the Plan Administration section

contain important information to help you maintain your

plan. On the Compliance page you can access MassMutual’s

Notice Creator – our automated online disclosure tool to

create your required annual Participant Fee and Investment-

Related Disclosure Notice.

The Plan Tools page contains a wealth of information and

resources for plan management, including administrative

forms & manuals, fiduciary information, and a resource

library that includes newsletters, regulatory alerts, user

guides, and more. Be sure to regularly visit the News

section for important updates from MassMutual.


Easy access to your Plan Service Review

Your quarterly Plan Service Review is a dynamic tool for managing your plan. It helps you monitor your plan’s investment performance and conduct periodic plan reviews, both important components of a fiduciary process. You may also review participant data and identify gaps and opportunities for education and communication. The Plan Service Review helps you monitor long-term trends so you can evaluate the overall effectiveness of your plan.

Some of the important information contained in your Plan Service Review includes:

· plan asset allocation statistics

· short- and long-term investment performance

· plan activity and cash flow summary

· participant investment diversification

· participating employees and average account balances

Your Plan Service Review is available for download in your Plan Documents library, located in the Plan Administration section of the site on the Plan Information page.

6

The Reporting section of the site contains a wealth of

information in flexible formats. On the initial Summary

page, you’ll find quick links to some of the most

frequently accessed reporting features, along with a

PDF reporting guide.

On the Standard Reports page, you will find all of the

daily and quarterly reports that MassMutual supplies to

assist with your plan management. Use the filter button

at the top right of the page to select the date range for

the reports you’d like to view. Depending on your plan’s

activity, reports may include:

• Loan reports (status and outstanding)

• Excess deferral report

• Age 70½ report

• Participant termination listing

• Participant vesting report

• Plan forfeiture summary

• Contribution report

• Distribution report

• Outstanding check report

• Roster turn around report (payroll

submission confirmations)

• Automated services reports

Many of these reports are run automatically at the

frequency you select under Report Settings. In addition

to the automatically generated reports we provide, you

may also request standard reports on demand, for the

date range you supply.

On the Plan Summary Reports page, you can view

currently available Plan Summary Reports as well as

order on-demand reports by selecting “Request a Plan

Summary Report.” Both standard reports and Plan Summary

Reports are available in downloadable formats including

PDF, .DAT file, and CSV.

Reporting


7

The Custom Reports page allows you to search and sort

through your plan’s data on either a plan or participant

level – so you can get the specific information that you

need in a single report.

By using the Custom Reports tool, you control both the

data included on the report and the time period that it

covers. After running your report, you’ll have the option to

save your search criteria for the future – allowing you to run

the same search with the click of a button as frequently as

you need.

If you run a search on the plan level, you also have the

option to drill down into a particular transaction to find

more details about any participants or investment options

involved. If desired, you can download any of the reports

you run into an Excel file for convenient sorting options

or creating mail files.

On the Plan Confirm Statement page, you can view reports

that summarize daily trade activity in your retirement plan,

as required by the Securities and Exchange Commission

(SEC). These reports show plan-level totals, without any

participant-level detail. To help minimize paper waste and

keep your mailbox uncluttered, we encourage you to sign

up for electronic delivery of these reports by selecting

“Go Paperless! Go Green!”

Finally, reports and documentation to support the annual

5500 filing process are available for download on the Audit

Package page.


8

The Message Center allows you to post

messages to the participant website – giving

you the tools to communicate directly

with your employees online through the

participant website, Retirement Access.

With this tool, you can create unique

content and target it to specific groups

of employees.

Message Center


Your message shown on the participant website!

9

Why should I use Plan Access to manage my plan?Online plan management has several benefits for you,

the plan sponsor:

• Accuracy: The information you load into Plan

Access is transmitted directly to MassMutual’s

recordkeeping system, so that you have complete

control over the data in your plan. You can view data

exactly as it appears on our system – so you can be

sure that the data on our system is the same as yours.

• Efficiency: All the data you input into Plan Access

is transmitted to our system “real-time” – you don’t

have to wait for mailing or processing time to have

your updates made. This can be invaluable when

submitting payroll contributions, as it helps you

segregate plan assets in a timely manner as required

by DOL regulations.

• Availability: As a Web-based application, Plan

Access is available whenever and wherever you

need it – allowing you to access data and transmit

information at your convenience.

Is Plan Access secure?Plan Access features industry-standard 128-bit encryption

technology for secure account access. All data is disaster

secure, supported by a redundant systems environment.

Will I be charged for using Plan Access?No, Plan Access is available at no extra charge.

Can I share my Plan Access ID with other staff members?Plan Access can support multiple login IDs for your plan.

We recommend that you have a unique login ID set up for

each employee who will be using Plan Access.

Can you restrict certain login IDs so that users have limited access to change employee information?Yes. Not only can you set up multiple login IDs for Plan

Access, you can also restrict the functionality as appropriate

for each user. This includes offering “view only” access for

people who are not authorized to perform transactions under

the plan, or limiting access to payroll processing capabilities

only. For assistance, please contact your client service team.

My company has multiple locations. Can you restrict certain login IDs so that users can only see employees in their office?Yes. If your plan has been set up with different location

codes, you can request that a given login ID only shows

employees from a particular location.

Can I give my auditor access to the site?If your plan is subject to an annual 5500 audit, you can

provide your auditor with limited access to the site to

obtain the information they need to do their plan audit.

This level of access allows the auditor to view and

generate reports for group information including number

of participants and total assets of the plan, plus individual

participant account information.

To provide auditor access, you will need to complete the

Plan Sponsor Request for Internet Access form, available

for download under Plan Administration > Plan Tools >

Forms & Manuals.

Plan Access FAQs


10

Report type What is it? What should I look for?

Using online reports to stay on top of your planThere are several different reports available to you under the Standard Reports section of Plan Access. While some of

these reports are mainly kept for recordkeeping purposes, many of the reports are invaluable tools to manage your plan –

if used regularly to monitor transactions.

Monitor your plan

Loan Status Detail Details all outstanding loan details by participant and SSN

• Loans to be deemed• Residual balances to be cleared• Loans whose payments have not begun• Payment amounts that do not match the original schedule

Excess Deferral Lists any employees who have exceeded the maximum allowable elective deferral contributions for one year

• Participants whose contributions need to be ceased• Participants who have exceeded the limit and require

a corrective distribution

Age 70½ Identifies participants set up to receive a periodic distribution and shows all participants and the date they turn 70½

• Participants who need to take a Required Minimum Distribution• Participants who need to have periodic distributions scheduled

Participant Termination/Separation

Lists participants with balances who are no longer employed or who have been rehired by the sponsor company

• Small balances that may be forced out or automatically rolled over

• Confirm status and status date

Participant Vesting Details participant vesting percentages by money type

• Review for accuracy

Plan Forfeiture Details the forfeitures resulting from participant distributions. Lists total plan forfeiture balances by money type

• Accuracy of forfeited amounts by participant• Total forfeitures to be reallocated according to your plan document

Contribution Details both payroll totals and participant contributions


Distribution Details distributions for each participant, including any fees or taxes withheld


Roster Turn Around Confirmation of transmitted payrolls (produced daily)


Outstanding Distribution Checks

Lists distribution checks that are uncashed • Checks that need to be stopped and reissued• Participants requiring address updates• Lost participants

Pending Enrollment and/or Contribution Cutoff Date

For plans using automated services, these reports list employees who have enrolled or updated deferral information online

• New enrollees to be set up with payroll deductions• Changes to participant deferral percentages to be

updated through payroll

Loan Amortization Schedule

Lists the payment amounts and schedule for a new participant loan

• Information to set up proper payroll deductions for loan repayments



11

Use the chart below to help you find the information you need on Plan Access:

Quick Reference Guide

Where do I find… Section Page

Participant statements Plan Administration Participants

Administration forms Plan Administration Plan Tools > Forms & Manuals

Payroll submissions Plan Administration Payroll

Plan Service Review Plan Administration Plan Information > Plan Documents

Plan Documents (including your Plan- and Participant-level fee disclosure information)

Plan Administration Plan Information > Plan Documents

Available loan amount Plan Administration Loans > Model a Loan or Participants > Loans

Employee census data Plan Administration Participants

Investment performance Plan Administration Plan Information > Investment Options

Quarterly reports Reporting Standard Reports

Terminated participants with balances under $5,000

Reporting Custom Reports – run a custom report selecting participants with a “T” status and portfolio balance between $0.01 and $5,000.00

Terminated participants with outstanding loans

Reporting Custom Reports – run a custom report selecting participants with a “T” status and a loan balance greater than zero

Plan balances as of a specific date Reporting Plan Summary Reports

Daily reports and feedback files (loan amortization schedules, automated services reporting, payroll confirmations)

Reporting Standard Reports

Option to add a new message on Retirement Access

Message Center Add new message

Messages currently displayed on Retirement Access

Message Center Items with a status of “Active”


12

Our goal is to ensure that you have all the tools and information you need to successfully administer your plan – and the technology to make that information available on your schedule. We hope this overview of Plan Access has been helpful. If you have additional questions, or need to have a login ID and password established, please contact your MassMutual representative at 1-800-637-6444.


MassMutual. We’ll help you get there.®

RS5701 1114 C: 35103-00

© 2014 Massachusetts Mutual Life Insurance Company, Springfield, MA 01111-0001. All rights reserved. www.massmutual.com. MassMutual Financial Group is a marketing name for Massachusetts Mutual Life Insurance Company (MassMutual) [of which Retirement Services is a division] and its affiliated companies and sales representatives.
